Fire escape equipment



1, 1964 E. A. PRocToR 3,144,093

FIRE ESCAPE EQUIPMENT Filed March 5, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR.

1 4 E. A. PROCTOR 3,144,093

FIRE ESCAPE EQUIPMENT Filed March 5, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 are:

IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent 3,144,093 FIRE ESCAPE EQUIPMENT Edward Augustus Proctor, 2888 Meadowbrook Blvd., Cleveland Heights, Ohio Filed Mar. 5, 1962, Ser. No. 177,480 3 Claims. (Cl. 182-92) In general my invention concerns improvements in fire escape equipment for use within any home of lap sided frame construction. My fire escape equipment is easily installed on the exterior of the common lap sided frame home by the home owner himself with a minimum of tools and without the aid of an assistant or a special skilled workman.

The relative simple installation operation required by my fire escape equipment will be readily apparent to prospective users thereby inducing its universal acceptance. Since my fire escape equipment will be inexpensive and its installation will be accomplished by the individual home owner without entailing a labor expense; even the poorest family will be able to provide themselves with adequate fire protection for all portions of their home in the future.

The result of this invention will be the saving of many lives of individuals who would otherwise have been trapped by future fires in their homes.

My fire escape equipment comprises two major items: a self-attaching rung and a rope. My rung is self-attaching because it involves an attachment element which when inserted between overlapping siding boards produces an automatic permanent attachment having adequate strength to support a heavy adult person standing on the rung. Lap siding does not have sufficient strength to withhold escape rungs attached by conventional screws and other such means.

When a plurality of my self-attaching rungs are attached to the exterior of a home at uniform vertical intervals, the equivalent to an attached escape ladder is provided on the exterior of the home. For example and to provide an explanation of the principles of this invention; when such an arrangement of self-attaching rungs would be installed leading from a second story window to the ground the objection is readily apparent that any trespasser could climb from the ground to the second story and possibly gain entry into the home through the window. The above apparent objection dictates that the lowest self-attaching rung shall be placed beyond the extended grasp of persons leaping upward from the ground. Since the escapee must still reach the ground when he is stationed on the lowest self-attaching rung, an auxiliary escape rope is provided to assist him in escaping the remaining short distance to the ground.

The auxiliary escape rope is used in conjunction with my lowest self-attaching rung to provide for both attachment of the upper end of the rope to the house and for provision of an opening through the siding portion of the exterior wall through which the rope can be threaded when not in use and therefore required to be stored within the wall partition cavity to await its emergency use While being removed from the range of grasp of trespassers on the ground.

A more complete understanding of my invention will follow from a description of the attached drawings wherein like parts are referred to by like reference characters and in which like reference characters refer to like parts; and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric View of my self-attaching rung.

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view of a grommet.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of the exterior partition of a lap sided building with my self-attaching rung automatically and permanently at- 3,144,093 Patented Aug. 11., 1964 tached to its exterior. FIGURE 3 illustrates my selfattaching rung as it appears when out along a line 3-3 as shown in FIGURE 1 and looking in the direction of the attached arrows.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 as shown on FIGURE 2 and looking in the direction of the attached arrows and illustrating the cross section of the grommet.

FIGURE 5 similarly to FIGURE 3 is an enlarged crosssectional view of a portion of the exterior partition of a lap sided building with my self-attaching rung attached to its exterior also illustrating the use of the grommet previously illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 4. The rope therein illustrated is the previously mentioned auxiliary escape rope. FIGURE 5 further illustrates the provision of the attachment of the upper end of the rope and also the provision of an opening through the siding portion of the exterior portion through which the rope can be threaded when not in use and therefore required to be stored within the wall partition cavity to await its emergency use while being removed from the range of grasp of trespassers on the ground.

FIGURE 6 is an elevational view of a portion of a lap sided frame home showing the utilization of my invention.

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view of the exterior partition of a lap sided frame home with my self-attaching rungs attached and further illustrating an escapee utilizing my auxiliary escape rope to escape from. my lowermost self-attaching rung to the ground. Refer to the above description of FIGURE 5 for further explanation which also applies to FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 8 is a detail of the vertical portion of the attachment element 16 showing the acute flap compressed as it occurs while being inserted between overlapping siding boards.

My self-attaching rung 10 as shown in FIGURE 1 has an annular shaped structure 11 comprising a horizontally disposed first ring portion 12 rigidly attached to a vertically disposed second ring portion 13. Both the first and second ring portions 12 and 13 are of a rectangular or square configuration. The joined together ring portions 12 and 13 jointly fashion an L shaped cross-section as shown at 14 in FIGURE 3 for the annular shaped structure 11.

An opening 15 in FIGURE 1 shows where the attachment element 16 occurred prior to being severed by shearing along the three edges 17, 18 and 19.

The attachment element 16 comprises a. lower horizon: tal portion 20 and a vertical portion 21. The lower horizontal portion 20 it attached by three rivets 22 or some similar means to the rear portion 23 of the horizontally disposed first ring portion 12 as is illustrated in FIG URE 3.

The vertical portion 21 involves a central opening 24 and further involves an upper edge 25 having a folded over acute flap 26. Since the attachment element 16 comprises a relatively thin sheet of pliable metal the folded over acute flap 26 possesses the quality of being capable of being compressed, as is shown. in FIGURE 8 and subsequent to release of compressive forces returning to its uncompressed configuration. The spring like qualities of the folded over lip 26 impart to the attachment element 16 the self-attaching qualities of my rung 10. I designate my folded over flap 26 as an acute lip since it fashions an acute angle.

FIGURE 3 illustrates the manner of attaching my selfattaching rung 10 to the exterior 27 of a lap sided wooden frame building. Such a building has exterior walls 28 constructed of vertical studs 29 carrying plaster 30 on one side and carrying overlapping beveled siding boards 31 on the other side to fashion a wall cavity 32 therebetween.

The overlapping beveled siding boards 31 have overlapping surfaces 33 between which surfaces 33 are inserted the upper edge 25 of the attachment element 16 and subsequently the attachment element 16 is thrust upward until the compressed folded over flap 26, see FIGURE 8, emerges from between the overlapping surfaces 33 and thereby regains its original unsprung configuration. Any attempt to withdraw the attachment element 16 is unsuccessful because the folded over flap 26 locks itself above the top edge 34 of the beveled siding board 31.

The attachment of my self-attaching ring 10 is strong enough to support even the heaviest adult 35 in a manner as shown on FIGURE 7 because of its method of distribution of forces to the beveled siding boards 31 and to the closely adjacent studs 32. The above is accomplished by making the self-attaching rung 10 only slightly narrower than the universal 16 inch spacing of vertical studs 32, to which the beveled siding boards 31 have been nailed.

The grommet 36 illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 4 is a cupped washer having an opening 37 involving a bent over tab 51. The diameter 38 of the cupped portion 39 as illustrated in FIGURE 4 is slightly smaller than the opening 24 previously described as a part of my self-attaching rung 10 and illustrated in FIGURE 1. FIGURE illustrates how the cupped portion 39 fitswithin the opening 24. The opening 37 is slightly larger than the diameter 40 of rope 41 and smaller than the rope end piece 42. Therefore, the rope as shown on FIGURE 5 can be withdrawn from the wall cavity 32 until the first rope end piece 42 comes into contact with the grommet 36 at which time the upper end 43 of rope 41 is firmly secured and the rope will then support an adult 35. The adult 35 or any person can utilize the rope 41 to escape from the lowest self-attaching rung '10 as is shown located at 44 on FIGURES 6 and 7 to the ground 45 and ultimate safety. A second rope end piece 46 at the end 47 of rope 41 provides a closure for opening 37 when the rope 41 is threaded through the opening 37 and remains stored in the wall cavity 32.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the installation of three of my self-attaching rungs below the second story window 48 arranged in a staggered arrangement suitable for an escapee to emerge from the window 48, place himself upon the rung 10 at position 49 and thereafter transfer his position until he stands upon the rung 10 as located at 44 thereby placing himself in a position adjacent to Window 48. While resting on the rung 10 located at 44 an escapee would have no difficulty to withdraw the end 47 of rope 41 from the rung 10 as located at 50 and to proceed in withdrawing the rope 41 until the rope end piece 42 contacts the grommet 36 at the location 50 and the rope end 47 reaches or nearly reaches the ground 45. Thereupon the escapee climbs down the rope 41 from the location 44 to the ground 45 and ulitmate safety.

The grommet 36 as illustrated in FIGURE 4 has a bent over tab 51 which helps to retain the grommet 36 within an opening 52 through a siding board 31 as is clearly shown in FIGURE 5. The purpose of the opening 52 is to permit the rope 41 to be thrust into and to be Withdrawn from the wall cavity 32.

The small scale of FIGURE 7 by necessity does not allow an illustration of the many features of my self-attachment rung 10 but these features are adequately illustrated in FIGURES 1 through 5.

I have illustrated my rung 10 as rigidly attached to the attachment element 16. Of course, the attachment element 16 can be made as a separate unit and the rung 10 can be made as another separate unit as is shown in FIG- URES 9 and 10. In this case the two units would be attached together by some means such as interlocking parts, bolts, screws or rivets. Suggested interlocking parts would include prongs interlocking in V shaped loops, prongs interlocking in holes, prongs interlocking in holes in tabs. Bolts, screws and rivets could be used to pro duce an attachment through holes in tabs, flanges, plate holes and V shaped loops. Since many common attachment means can be employed several claims will have to be presented to show the scope of the intended invention. Even with the presentation of several claims showing the intended invention, the employment of other similar attachment means by others should not circumvent the herein intended scope of my invention.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes on the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A ladder rung having a rung end, a self-attachment means thereof in combination with a rope, the self-attachment means comprising a plate perpendicularly attached to the rung end, the plate having an edge portion folded over at a single crease to fashion an acutely projecting resilient flap, the plate having a hole having a first diameter, the rope having a central portion between first and second end portions, the central portion having a second diameter smaller than the first diameter, the central portion threading through the first hole, the first and second end portions being larger than the first diameter.

2. Fire escape equipment comprising a self-attaching member and a rope, said member comprising a rung attached perpendicularly to a plate having an upper edge portion folded over at a single crease to fashion an acute resilient flap folding into substantially complete contact with said plate upon being inserted between tightly overlapping boards, the plate having a central opening through which said rope can be threaded, the plate and flap diverging from the crease.

3. In combination with a self-attaching member a grommet, said member having ends attached to a plate having an edge portion folded in a single crease fashioning an acute folded over resilient flap, the plate having a central portion including a first opening having a first diameter, the grommet comprising a cupped washer having a second opening smaller than the first opening, the cupped washer comprising a cupped portion having a second diameter slightly less than the first diameter of the first opening, said second opening being adapted to register with said first opening, the plate and flap diverging from the crease.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 173,720 Carver et al Sept. 16, 1953 69,465 Miller Oct. 1, 1867 500,365 Berbecker June 27, 1893 726,271 Farley Apr. 28, 1903 915,494 Smith Mar. 16, 1909 990,267 Hill Apr. 25, 1911 2,158,949 Sarles May 16, 1939 2,651,789 Newland Sept. 15, 1953 2,672,314 Mitchell Mar. 16, 1954 2,826,387 Rutten Mar. 11, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 98,880 Norway Nov. 6, 1961 

1. A LADDER RUNG HAVING A RUNG END, A SELF-ATTACHMENT MEANS THEREOF IN COMBINATION WITH A ROPE, THE SELF-ATTACHMENT MEANS COMPRISING A PLATE PERPENDICULARLY ATTACHED TO THE RUNG END, THE PLATE HAVING AN EDGE PORTION FOLDED OVER AT A SINGLE CREASE TO FASHION AN ACUTELY PROJECTING RESILIENT FLAP, THE PLATE HAVING A HOLE HAVING A FIRST DIAMETER, THE ROPE HAVING A CENTRAL PORTION BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND END PORTIONS, THE CENTRAL PORTION HAVING A SECOND DIAMETER SMALLER THAN THE FIRST DIAMETER, THE CENTRAL PORTION THREADING THROUGH THE FIRST HOLE, THE FIRST AND SECOND END PORTIONS BEING LARGER THAN THE FIRST DIAMETER. 